PAULA L. VARSON Department of Finance UTSA College of Business One UTSA Circle San Antonio, Texas 78249-0637 (210)458-6198 paula.varson@utsa.edu EDUCATION University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Finance PhD University of Cincinnati Finance MBA University of Cincinnati Q. A. MBA University of Iowa Statistics MSc coursework University of Cincinnati Mathematics BA Virginia Polytechnic Institute Physics BS coursework ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE 2006 Present University of Texas at San Antonio Senior Lecturer 2000 2006 St. Mary s University (San Antonio) Assistant Professor 1997 2000 The University of Texas (Austin) Visiting Assistant Professor 1991 1997 Concordia University (Montreal) Assistant Professor 1990 1991 The London School of Economics Visiting Assistant Professor BUSINESS AND OTHER EXPERIENCE Visiting fellow at the University of Warwick (Coventry, England) Taught at the University of Colorado at Boulder Budget analyst for Ford Motor (Dearborn, Michigan) Actuarial Analyst for Great American Insurance (Cincinnati, Ohio) PUBLICATIONS IN REFERRED JOURNALS: PUBLICATIONS Capital Structure and the Ex-Dividend Day Return, (with D. French and K. Moon). Financial Review, 40, No. 3, 361-379 (2005). (Acceptance rate = 6 to 10%).
Paula L. Varson August 2009 Page 2 2003 Southwestern Finance Association, Best Paper in Financial Institutions and Markets Standard and Poors Depository Receipts and the Performance of the S&P 500 Index Futures, (with Lorne Switzer). Journal of Futures Markets, 20, No. 8, 705-716 (2000). (Acceptance rate = 30%) Option Prices As Predictors of Stock Prices: Intra Day Adjustments to Information Releases, (with Michael Selby). The European Journal of Finance, 3. No. 1, 49-72 (1997). (Acceptance rate = 25%) A summary is published in the Proceedings of the Annual INQUIRE (Institute for Quantitative Investment Research) Conference, 1993. This paper was awarded the 1993 INQUIRE prize and has generated numerous citations in major journals. The Search for Evidence of Chaos in FTSE-100 Daily Returns, (with Paul Doran). European Financial Management, 1. No. 2, 201-210 (1995). (Acceptance rate = 6 to 10%) A summary is published in the Proceedings of the Annual INQUIRE Conference, 1994. Evidence on Deterministic Chaos in TSE-300 Monthly and Daily Data, (with A. Jalilvand). Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, 11. No. 1, 43-53 (1994). (Acceptance rate = 21 to 30%) PUBLISHED PROCEEDINGS: Strategic Management in a Chaotic Environment: Cycling, Slack, and Smoothing, (with J. McGuire and J. Day). The Proceedings of the Southwestern Management Association Meeting, Dallas, March 1998. Stock-Price Volatility Estimation, The Proceedings of the AMEX Options Colloquium, New York, March 1989. Earnings Surprises and the Information Content of Option Prices, The Proceedings of the AMEX Options Colloquium, New York, March 1987. PUBLISHED ABSTRACT: Abstract of Return Autocorrelation and Institutional Investors by Richard W. Sias and Laura T. Starks, Contemporary Finance Digest, 2, No.2, 62-63 (1998).
Paula L. Varson August 2009 Page 3 AWARDS: OTHER RESEARCH ACTIVITIES 2003 Southwestern Finance Association Best Paper in Financial Institutions. Southwestern Finance Association Meeting, Houston, Texas, March 2003. 2001 American Association of Individual Investors Award for Best Paper in Investments. Southwestern Finance Association Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 2001. 1993 Prize for the best paper presented at the INQUIRE - UK conference. WORKING PAPERS: Dividend Clienteles: The Evidence from Ex-Dividend Returns by Industry (with Dan French). 2001 Southwestern Finance Association, AAII Best Paper in Investments. Under revision for publication in a refereed finance journal. Ex-dividend Behavior and Operational Efficiency, (with D. French). CURRENT RESEARCH PROJECTS: Forecasting Accuracy of Option-Implied Stock Betas GRANTS: 1997-2000 SSHRC (Government of Canada) "Strategic Grant for Corporate Governance and Global Competitiveness," (with J. McGuire and A. Bakr Ibrahim), $61,000. One of only twelve SSHRC Grants awarded to Concordia in 1997. 1996-1999 SSHRC Research Grant, for "Index Participations, Mutual Funds and Redundant Securities: Theory and Empirical Tests," (with L. Switzer, S. Perrakis, and J. Doukas), $60,000. One of only ten SSHRC Grants awarded to Concordia in 1996. $34,500 in internal grants from Concordia University and University of Colorado. SELECTED PRESENTATIONS: I have made over thirty presentations at academic and practitioner meetings. My presentation
Paula L. Varson August 2009 Page 4 record includes the very top academic meetings in Finance; six presentations at Financial Management Association meetings, one presentation at a European Finance Associating meeting, and an invited presentation at an American Finance Association meeting. I have also made four funded presentations at prestigious practitioner meetings; two at the AMEX Options Colloquium (administered by Menachem Brenner and Dan Galai of NYU) and two at the Institute for Quantitative Investments Research - Europe. I was the first woman to present a research paper at the AMEX Options Colloquium Capital Structure and the Ex-Dividend Day Behavior of Stock Prices, (with D. French and K. Moon). Southwestern Finance Association Meeting, Houston, Texas, March 2003. Dividend Clienteles: The Evidence from Ex-Dividend Returns by Industry, (with D. French). Southwestern Finance Association Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, March 2001. Capital Structure and the Ex-Dividend Day Return, (with D. French and K. Moon). Southwestern Finance Association Meeting, San Antonio, Texas, March 2000. Standard and Poors Depository Receipts and the Performance of the S&P 500 Index Futures, (with L. Switzer). Financial Management Association Meeting, Chicago, October 1998. Option Prices As Predictors of Stock Prices: Intra Day Adjustments to Information Releases, (with M. Selby). INQUIRE - UK (Institute for Quantitative Investment Research -UK), Cambridge, England, October 1993, (Funded Presentation). European Finance Association, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, August 1991. European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, Brussels, April 1991. Financial Markets Group Workshop, The London School of Economics, March 1991. Financial Options Research Centre, University of Warwick, Coventry, March 1991. Earnings Surprises and the Information Content of Option Prices, Warwick Options Seminar, Coventry, England, May 1988 (Invited Presentation). American Finance Association, Chicago, December 1987 (Invited Presentation). Financial Management Association, Las Vegas, October 1987. AMEX Options Colloquium, New York, March 1987 (Funded Presentation). The Search for Evidence of Chaos in FTSE-100 Daily Returns, (with P. Doran). The European Conference on Operations Research, Jerusalem, Israel, July 1995. The Eastern Economic Association, New York City, March 1995. INQUIRE - Europe (Institute for Quantitative Investment Research - Europe) Autumn 1994 Seminar, Heidelberg, Germany, October 1994, (Funded Presentation). Financial Management Association, San Francisco, October 1992.
Paula L. Varson August 2009 Page 5 Stock-Price Volatility Estimation Financial Management Association, Boston, October 1989. AMEX Options Colloquium, New York, March 1989, (Funded Presentation). The Value of Market Liquidity As Measured by the American Premium on a Put Option, (with R. Melicher and J. Day). Financial Management Association, New Orleans, October 1988. OTHER SCHOLARLY ACTIVITIES: Served as referee for numerous scholarly journals including the Journal of Finance, Financial Management, Mathematical Finance and Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control. Session Chair or Discussant at numerous professional meetings. Acted as an outside adjudicator for numerous research proposals. COURSES TAUGHT: TEACHING ACCOMPLISHMENTS Undergraduate Taught a 240-student class of Principles of Business Finance (UTSA) Capital Structure and Budgeting (UTSA) Cases in Financial Management (UTSA) Survey of Finance (UTSA) Financial Institutions and International Finance (St. Mary's University) Investments and Portfolio Management (Concordia University, LSE, University of Colorado, The University of Texas, and St. Mary s University). Corporate Finance (LSE, University of Colorado, St. Mary s University, and UTSA). Personal Finance (Concordia University). MBA /MSc Financial Derivatives (St. Mary s University). Mergers and Acquisitions (The University of Texas and St. Mary s University). Investments (Concordia University and The University of Texas). Corporate Finance (University of Colorado and St. Mary s University). PhD Investments (LSE). Seminar in Derivatives (University of Colorado).
Paula L. Varson August 2009 Page 6 STUDENT SUPERVISION AND ADVISING: Supervised numerous theses and independent projects at the undergraduate and all graduate levels. Responsible for advising and registering undergraduates while at St. Mary s University.